Public anger mounts over Hackney Council’s controversial PSPO
A sign next to Hackney Council’s PSPO. Photograph: Twitter
Public outrage continues to mount against Hackney Council’s introduction of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which has been slammed by a leading homelessness charity Crisis as “criminalising the homeless”.
A petition has been launched against the Town Hall’s initiative, whilst local housing campaign group Digs says “a large number of people” are planning direct action to protest against the PSPO.
The council says the Protection Order is being put in place to tackle persistent “anti-social behaviour” such as begging, street drinking, and rough sleeping in designated “hotspots”: Hackney Downs, London Fields, Broadway Market, Mare Street and Regents Canal.
The PSPO gives the police and council officers the power to issue rough sleepers with a £100 on-the-spot fine but Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden insists: “Enforcement will always be a last resort and only used for those who continue to sleep rough and are part of the persistent anti-social behaviour that affects the safety and wellbeing of our residents”.
Hackney Council has also come under fire for failing to carry out a public consultation on the controversial measures.
In contrast Oxford City Council held a full consultation before introducing their PSPO. It consequently removed rough sleepers from its proposed list of ‘anti-social activities’ in the face of opposition from many local residents.
A Hackney Council spokesperson said the PSPO was given the go-ahead by the Chief Executive Tim Shields and consultation included six Community Action Panels (resident groups that work with the police and the Council to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour), businesses in Hackney Central, five local housing associations, and Hackney Police.
Social cleansing
Several local organisations have spoke out against the Public Space Protection Order. Hackney Community Law Centre released a statement asking the Council to consider amending the PSPO.
Its chair Ian Rathbone said: “The order will not stop people sleeping rough. It will simply force them to sleep rough elsewhere, or else render them liable to prosecution.”
Commenting on the council’s stance, Heather Kennedy from Digs said: “People in Hackney are very angry about the council’s criminalisation of homeless people, particularly in the middle of a housing crisis, when the council has failed to support residents in housing need.
“If the Deputy Mayor, Sophie Linden, had bothered to carry out a public consultation she might have found this out. A large number of people are coming together to plan direct action against the PSPO. We will not rest until the criminalisation of homelessness in our borough is overturned.”
London Fields resident Guy Aitchison, 30, said: “This looks very much like a case of social cleansing by Hackney Council: an attempt to ‘clean up’ the borough for its more affluent residents and visitors.
“I live by London Fields and see no need for this. There are already plenty of laws in place to protect members of the public without these extra powers targeted at the most vulnerable.
“It is especially perverse given the huge shortfall in social housing and government cuts to benefits.”
A poster produced by housing campaign group Digs.
Breaking the cycle
But Mike Nicholas, Communications Manager at Thames Reach, a homelessness outreach charity working alongside Hackney Community Safety enforcement, said the petition “confuses the realities of rough sleeping and begging. Most rough sleepers don’t beg.”
“The PSPO in Hackney is being used to tackle begging, which is linked with heroin and crack cocaine use, as well as street drinking and anti-social behaviour rather than homelessness.”
When asked why rough sleeping had been included in the PSPO as an “anti-social activity”, Nicholas said such activity was not being targeted.
Nicholas said the order was helping those on the streets who had previously refused to engage with support services to “break the cycle”.
Nicholas described the case of one man, who moved into a hostel and is engaging with staff as a result of the intervention. “This wouldn’t have happened without a joint effort between services and the threat of legal action if he refused to engage and continued to beg on the streets,” he said.
Hackney Council has recently received £330,000 to run a cross borough single homeless project targeting rough sleeping, £250,000 from the DCLG and £80,000 from Mayor of London.
Digs will be discussing the PSPO at a ‘Reclaim Hackney’ meeting on Thurs 4th June, 7pm, Halkevi Centre, Dalston Lane.
We’ll be planning direct action to overturn the criminalising of homelessness at the ‘Reclaim Hackney’ meeting on Thurs 4th June, 7pm, Halkevi Centre, Dalston Lane. Everyone welcome.
Good. Let’s nip this in the bud.
**Please SIGN and SHARE** the petition mentioned in the article on your Facebook and Twitter feeds! It only takes a minute and could make the difference The last measure was only defeated once Oxford council received over 72,000 signatures!
https://www.change.org/p/hackney-council-stop-criminalising-hackney-s-rough-sleepers
Hackney Renters have also written a template to email the council here:
http://hackneyrenters.org/2015/05/20/hackney-criminalises-homelessness-email-your-councillor/
it is not homelessness that is the problem – it is the ASB associated with the group of homeless people.
It is almost impossible to prevent them pissing in the doorways, ignoring the alcohol dispersal zones, screaming and fighting half the night, constant hassle for money on Mare St, and Broadway Market.
This is not gentrification – because most people, regardless of wealth or income, have at least some consideration for the amenity of others. There is a hardcore of people, who happen to be homeless, who don’t give a sh*t.
[Deleted by moderator at the request of the commenter]
johnny m – I totally misread your comment which makes my own comment look a bit daft. my apologies!
no worries – the problem that face the authorities who try and address this ASB is they have no tools unless they catch them in the act. Then the problem is staffing in the middle of the night – so they are giving themselves a blunt tool which I understand they will use selectively (hopefully). Far from ideal, but I gather the council and police are at wits end trying to address the ASB – the other option is to ignore and live with it. I see a lot of these people around my home (men and women, often the women are worse) they hang around for 2-3 years then go. if you talk to the council, or the people themselves or the safer neighbour team about it, they will tell you that they will not accept the accommodation provided, or end up getting excluded from it – because of their behaviour, or they go into a programme for a few weeks and then are back on the street. One woman used to sit on the street cutting herself – in front of all the kids on the school run – and the police could not do anything about it as she refuses all help. This went on for months. So I think the problem is more difficult that what it appears to be superficially.